It’s the first weekend of 2024, and there are some exciting deals that have gone live now that the holiday season has ended. From video games to PC components, there is no shortage of deals you don’t want to miss out on. The best deals for Saturday, January 6, include Super Mario RPG, a 2TB Crucial SSD, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, and more.
Super Mario RPG for $47.69
The recently released remake of Super Mario RPG is 20% off at Walmart right now. If you’ve yet to either play the original or check out the remake, this is the perfect time to do so. Composer Yoko Shimimura returned to compose the remake’s original soundtrack, and each boss and environment has been expertly recrafted for the Nintendo Switch. It’s the perfect Mario title to check out if you’ve already beaten Super Mario Bros. Wonder!
2TB PS5 Compatible SSD for $124.99
You can never have enough storage for a console like the PlayStation 5. File sizes have only grown with each passing year, and each of the biggest titles of the year usually requires 100GB on the low end. This Crucial T-500 2TB SSD includes a heatsink, so it’s ready to slot into your PS5 with no other installation required. If you don’t have an SSD yet, this is a great deal to take a look at.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete 4K Blu-ray for $18.90
With Final Fantasy VII Rebirth just a month and a half away, there has never been a better time to watch Advent Children. This 4K Remaster of the Complete edition packs in multiple bonus features, in addition to the revised cuts and over 25 minutes of added content throughout the movie. It’s likely that Advent Children could be very important to the story of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, especially with Square Enix electing to bring the movie back to theaters just days before the game’s release.
Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 850W
If you’re in the market for a new power supply, look no further than the Thermaltake GF A3 850W. This Gold Certified PSU is fully compatible with ATX 3.0 Standards and is PCIe Gen 5.0 ready. Additionally, it is fully modular, so you’ll only need to use the necessary cables for your specific build. Almost any of the new 4000 series cards will work effortlessly with this 850W PSU.
$800 Off One of LG’s Best 2022 TVs
Best Buy has the 77″ LG G2 Gallery Series 4K OLED TV on sale for $2,474.99. It’s one of the best TVs that LG put out in 2022, which makes this a fantastic deal for a high quality 4K OLED TV. Utilizing the Gen5 AI Processor 4K, you’ll get the best color and picture quality from your LG TV. It will automatically adjust both the picture and sound depending on the content you are watching. Additionally, this TV has 4 HDMI 2.1 ports, making it a perfect for the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.
Save 20% Off This LEGO Icons Atari 2600 Set
Right now, Amazon has the LEGO Icons Atari 2600 set on sale for $191.99. That’s 20% off the listing price of $239.99! This set includes loads of nostalgia and retro fun, with a to-size Atari 2600 console and its iconic controller. Additionally, Asteroids, Adventure, and Centipede cartridges are included to be built, with game scenes representing the three games as well. Overall, this is a great set to pick up if you love Atari or are looking for a rush of nostalgia for video games.
LEGO DC Super-Villains for $14.99
LEGO DC Super-Villains is a title that went under the radar for many. The collaboration between DC Comics and WB Games sees you take control of some of DC’s biggest villains and wreak havoc across multiple cities. A new group of suspicious heroes has appeared, and it’s up to the villains to uncover their true intentions. This deal is for the Nintendo Switch version of the game, which runs consistently in docked and handheld modes.
Apple AirPods Pro with USB Type-C for $189.99
There’s no better holiday gift than a new pair of AirPods. Amazon has dropped the price of the 2nd gen Apple AirPods Pro truly wireless noise cancelling earbuds with the universal USB Type-C connector by $50, now only $199.99. Best of all, it can be delivered to you before Christmas, December 25 without paying any additional shipping fee. With this current gen AirPods Pro, Apple has replaced the proprietary Lightning port with the more universal USB Type-C. For people who want to bring along a single charging cable for all of their mobile devices, this is a godsend.
Listen, there are some weird Pokemon evolutions out there, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have them in spades. Sometimes the cute little guy you first caught will evolve into an absolute monstrosity, or just something a little bit… off. But who doesn’t love a good motley crew?
The Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Teal Mask DLC introduced some new and classic Pokemon to the game, but evolving them isn’t always a straightforward process. Here are some of the most sought-after Pokemon evolution methods in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet The Teal Mask DLC and the Pokemon Indigo Disk DLC.
How to Evolve Nosepass in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
This adorable little Moai (or Easter Island head) of a Pokemon makes a return in the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC, but evolving Nosepass is different this time around.
Once you’ve found Nosepass in the northwestern corner of Kitakami (we recommend looking in Paradise Barrens) you will need to expose Nosepass to a Thunder Stone in order to evolve it into its next strange form, Probopass. Alternatively, if you don’t want to evolve Nosepass, you can sometimes find and defeat Probopass in either a 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid.
How to Evolve Aipom in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet
Teach Aipom the Double Hit move
Defeat in Tera Raid Battle
It’s always been just a little disconcerting that Aipom evolves from a cute little monkey with a hand on its tail to a cute little monkey with… they kind of look like udders, okay? If you want Aipom’s evolution, Ambipom, however, you can evolve your Aipom using this trick.
First, you will want to teach your Aipom the move Double Hit. Aipom should learn the Double Hit move naturally at Level 32. Once Aipom knows Double Hit, you only need to level it up once more and it evolves into Ambipom!
How to Evolve Lampent in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Yep, a chandelier Pokemon. Starting out as the precious candle Pokemon, Litwick, you can take its second evolution Lampent another level and get yourself your very own Chandelure.
To evolve Lampent into Chandelure, you will need to expose your Lampent to Dusk Stone. There is a guaranteed drop of Dusk Stone behind the Montenevera Gym, if you’re having trouble finding some. Otherwise, you can skip evolving Lampent altogether and capture a Chandelure after defeating one in a 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid Battle.
How to Evolve Weepinbell in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Expose to Leaf Stone
Defeat in high-level Tera Raid Battle
It has to be said. Weepinbell goes from looking very much like a mouth to evolving into a mouth with sharp teeth. If this cursed creature is your cup of tea though, you can catch Weepinbell and evolve it into your very own Victreebel!
To evolve Weepinbell, you’ll need to expose your Weepinbell to a Leaf Stone. We recommend looking for Leaf Stone in Tagtree Thicket, or you can just buy one. You can also just capture a Victreebel by defeating it in a higher-level Tera Raid Battle.
How to Evolve Dusclops in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Trade while holding Reaper Cloth
Defeat in high-level Tera Raid Battle
This strange Ghost-type Pokemon Dusclops can only be evolved into a Dusknoir by trading it at Level 37. However, there’s a catch! The Dusclops must be holding a Reaper Cloth when traded. To find one, head to the Timeless Woods in Kitakami, and look around the ground in the center of it, to the south, for a Poke Ball on the ground containing one. Dusclops is one of several Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that can only evolve when traded.
The only other way to snag yourself the sinister Dusknoir Pokemon is to defeat one in a high-level Tera Raid in Kitakami.
How to Evolve Poliwhirl in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Okay, so Poliwhirl really isn’t that “weird” for a Pokemon, at least when you compare it to others. What’s strange about Poliwhirl is that it’s one of the few Pokemon that has a “branching” evolution. Not only that, but its Politoed evolution circumvents the usual standard in which an adorable Pokemon evolves into a “tougher” looking Pokemon.
If you want to evolve your Poliwhirl into a cute Politoed instead of Poliwrath, you will need to trade it while it’s holding a King’s Rock at Level 25. You can get King’s Rock from Delibird Presents. The only other way you’ll encounter a Politoed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is in a high-level Tera Raid Battle in Kitakami.
How to Evolve Feebas in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Trade while holding a Prism Scale
Defeat Milotic in 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid Battles
This very decased-looking fish Pokemon, Feebas, is tough to locate in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. If you need help tracking Feebas down, try using our Where to Find Feebas in The Teal Mask DLC guide.
Originally, Feebas would only evolve into Milotic once it was as beautiful as it could be, but since that old Pokemon Contest mechanic is missing from Scarlet and Violet, you’ll have to follow a different method. Once you’ve caught Feebas, the next step is to give it a Prism Scale and trade it. Once traded, it will evolve into a Milotic! If you’re up for the challenge, alternatively you can defeat Milotic in a 5-Star or 6-Star Tera Raid Battle found in the Kitakami region.
How to Evolve Applin in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Dipplin is a new, strange candied apple Pokemon introduced in The Teal Mask DLC. To get it, you’ll first need to find an Applin. These are easier to find in Kitakami, specifically the Apple Hills. Applin already had two different evolutions depending on the type of apple you expose it to, and Dipplin is now the third. Once you have acquired an Applin, simply expose it to the new Syrupy Apple! You can also find Dipplin in 6-Star Tera Raid Battles in Blueberry Academy’s Terrarium.
How to Evolve Dipplin in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Teach it Dragon Cheer and level it up once
Hydrapple is really just a collection of six “syrpents” who live in an apple made of syrup. Really. It’s the new second stage evolution of the Applin line introduced in The Indigo Disk DLC, and to get it, you’ll need to evolve the more subdued Dipplin. Dipplin will need to learn Dragon Cheer via TM before it can level up and evolve. To get the Dragon Cheer TM, defeat a certain BB League Elite Four member in the Polar Biome.
How to Evolve Hisuian Qwilfish in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Teach it Barb Barrage and level it up
Defeat Overqwil in 6-Star Tera Raid Battles in Blueberry Academy’s Terrarium
Hisuian Qwilfish and Overqwil aren’t too strange, considering they’re kind of inspired by real-life sea creatures, but the method to evolve Hisuian Qwilfish is a fairly unique one. It needs to know Barb Barrage first and then level up to evolve into Overqwil. You can also encounter the angry Overqwil in 6-Star Tera Raid Battles in Blueberry Academy’s Terrarium.
How to Evolve Inkay in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet
Level up Inkay to Lv. 30 or up while the Switch is upside down
Defeat Malamar in 5- or 6-Star Tera Raid Battles in Blueberry Academy’s Terrarium
Inkay is a cute ‘lil squid friend that evolves into Malamar, a curious Dark- and Psychic type Pokemon that can hypnotize its victim. The evolution method for Inkay has been stumping players since its inception, and the method hasn’t changed for its reintroduction in The Indigo Disk DLC. Level Inkay up to at least Level 30 while the console – yes, the entire Nintendo Switch – is upside down.
How to Evolve Milcery in Pokemon Scarlet/Violet
Give Milcery a Sweet to hold and spin
Defeat Malamar in 5- or 6-Star Tera Raid Battles
Milcery’s a cute cream Pokemon first introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield with a completely unique method of evolution that is… quite specific and strange. First, you must let it hold a Sweet. Then, exit the menu and twirl the control stick so your trainer spins–Milcery should evolve into Alcremie! A pile of whipped cream and strawberries. Well, its adornments will change based on the Sweet you gave it! Yum.
Traide while it’s holding a King’s Rock (for Politoed)
How to Evolve Gurdurr
Trade
How to Evolve Seadra
Trade while it’s holding a Dragon Scale
How to Evolve Dusclops
Trade while it’s holding a Reaper Cloth
How to Evolve Feebas
Trade while it’s holding a Prism Scale
How to Evolve Porygon
Trade while it’s holding an Upgrade
How to Evolve Porygon 2
Trade while it’s holding a Dubious Disk
How to Evolve Phantump
Trade
All of these evolutions can also be caught after defeating them in Tera Raid Battles if you’ve got what it takes, too.
Are there some Pokemon who you are hoping to evolve that weren’t on this list? You can find every Pokemon and their evolution items over on our How to Evolve Every Pokemon guide for Scarlet and Violet! On the flip side, if you are looking for more Teal Mask DLC help, check out our walkthrough or How to Catch the Loyal Three guides!
Shailyn Cotten is a Freelance Writer for IGN. When she’s not writing guides, you can find her gobbling up Legend of Zelda lore, writing cozy fantasy novels, or live-streaming on Twitch. You can find her on Twitter at @ShaiCotten.
VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1 is dropping January 10th and brings, for the first time since launch, a new gun. The Outlaw is the new weapon in the latest season that brings a new sniper rifle into play. Here’s everything you need to know about the Outlaw and the newest season of VALORANT.
OUTLAW
The Outlaw is a brand new double-barreled sniper rifle made to fit somewhere between the Marshal and Operator sniper rifles in the roster. The Outlaw can fire two shots in succession very quickly without zooming out. Depending on how many shots you’ve fired, one shot or two, the reload times will vary and are overall a bit longer than the other sniper rifles to compensate for the fire rate.
Nick Smith, Game Designer II and Sal Garozzo, Game Designer Architect, stated, “The Shorty (the sawed off shotgun sidearm in Valorant) served as a bit of an inspiration in that regard, allowing us to reimagine that paradigm in a new context with a Sniper rifle.”
The Outlaw will be especially formidable against players wearing Light Armor due to its high damage and two-shot mechanics. The Outlaw costs 2,400 credits in matches so it’s right between its competitors the Marshal and Operator.
OUTLAW BUNDLE
The Outlaw also drops with a new Throwback Bundle in the VALORANT SHOP that costs 2,320 VP and includes two skins for the Outlaw with 3 variants each. The Prism/Reloaded Outlaw skin and the Ego Outlaw skin. There are no unique custom animations and VFX for these skins but the Prism and Ego skins returning from 2020 have new color variants to make up for that and the price point.
VALORANT Episode 8 Act 1 will be available to everyone January 10th with a new battle pass.
Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she’s previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn’t streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.
Nearly 13 years after the debut of Portal 2, fans of the beloved first-person puzzle game were supposed to be rewarded with the Jan. 5 release of a prequel campaign from Second Face Software. The fan-made mod, dubbed Portal: Revolution, will add over eight hours of gameplay and 40 new test chambers to the sequel game.
“Right off the bat, I want to say that the game is done,” the message reads. “We could ship at any moment, but Valve has yet to review and accept the game for release.”
The note continues on to explain how all games on Steam are beholden to a review process by Valve before developers can even have the option to punch the release button. The Portal: Revolution developers first submitted their build for review Dec. 20 but had yet to hear back from Valve before the mod’s intended Jan. 5 release date.
“Even though we’re done on our part, we can’t ship,” the developers wrote. “In hindsight, we should have seen this coming and we definitely learned [our] lesson to not ship during holidays again.”
The developers acknowledged that they were, indeed, warned in advance by Steam Support that reduced staffing during the holiday season leads to much longer review times. Any other time of year, this process normally takes between 2-3 business days, according to the Portal: Revolution developers, though it’s advised games be submitted at least two weeks before their shipping date.
“Even though we’re done on our part, we can’t ship. In hindsight, we should have seen this coming.”
As the announcement was being posted to the Steam storefront, the Portal: Revolution team heard back from Valve that the build is now under review. Once accepted, the game devs said they would update fans with a revised release date.
We’re not sure what’s worse: having to stay patient for the mod’s inevitable debut or the fact it’s ready and simply not available. Either way, it’s a sad day for Portal fans.
The good news? This campaign is going to be well worth the wait. Eight hours of additional gameplay nearly qualifies this community-built mod as a full-length game in its own right. Plus, the new puzzles will force players to think outside the box (or rather, Companion Cube) by utilizing existing mechanics in a unique way.
Set between the events of Portal and Portal 2, the new content will send players back to the tattered ruins of Aperture laboratories. At the game’s onset, you awake as a test subject whose mission is to find a device that can restore the facility.
“Portal: Revolutions puzzle difficulty starts where Portal 2 stops,” according to the game’s developers, though challenging new mechanics will be taught to players as they go along, similar to the original games.
Games with miniatures and games with the Marvel licence are ten a penny, but back in 2019 the bright sparks at Atomic Mass Games had the idea to put them together. The result was Marvel Crisis Protocol, a skirmish game where teams of super-powered characters duke it out over tactical objectives. It proved a smash hit, and now it’s back in an updated edition, Earth’s Mightiest Core Set (see it at Amazon), with cool new characters and more dynamic figures. Owners of the original can still use their figures, however, as they’re different versions of the same characters, with slightly different stats and powers.
What’s in the Box
Like a lot of miniature game starter boxes, the contents of Marvel: Crisis Protocol – Earth’s Mightiest Core Set isn’t much to look at when you draw the lid off for the first time. It’s mostly a lot of gray plastic sprues. There are no assembly instruction in the game — instead they have to be downloaded from the website of the publisher, Atomic Mass Games. You’ll also need a craft knife, some polystyrene cement and a lot of time and patience to assemble the contents, although the figure poses are clean and obvious. No guessing games are required over whether you’ve got an arm or a leg at the correct angle.
Once you’ve put the time in, the results are spectacular. The 10 figures in this updated box are much more detailed and dynamic than their original counterparts. Doc Ock drips liquid from tentacle to test-tube, while Black Widow is captured in the act of tearing an Ultrabot in two.
In addition to the characters, there’s also a ton of scenery included, mimicking everyday street objects like lamps and cars. Some of the more spectacular pieces are wrecks and damaged buildings, enlivened by bits of crushed Ultrabots crawling out of the debris. Between them, there’s more than enough to start playing.
A pack of custom dice, character and crisis cards, a rules booklet and some sheets of cardboard sprues containing counters round out the box contents. As you can probably imagine given the wealth of comic art at the game’s disposal, everything looks bright and colorful with plenty of pictures to enliven the tiresome task of rules referencing.
Rules and How It Plays
For the most part, Marvel Crisis Protocol plays like a standard modern miniatures game. Characters get two actions which they can use to do things like move, attack or activate particular hero powers. Movement and range are measure with included custom tools to keep things fast and simple. Attacks are resolved by each player rolling a pool of dice and looking for hit or block symbols to attack or defend, with “wild” icons adding additional effects depending on the attack used.
With each character representing a superhero, you can probably imagine that these additional effects, along with their unique attacks and powers, encompass a wild range of wacky results. Spider-Man, for example, can slam enemy characters into the scenery, while Red Skull can warp both himself and other characters around the map. Most of the more powerful abilities require you to pay a resource called power which is in short supply at the beginning of the game.
However, in a twist of considerable genius, characters get extra power when they’re wounded and when they use particular attacks. This is a useful feedback loop that boosts a player taking hits due to unlucky dice, but it also results in an escalating feedback loop whereby the more everyone is punching and throwing each other around, the more options they have to punch and throw each other even harder. Characters also get dazed after accumulating enough wounds, which flips their character cards over and sometimes reveals even more powerful effects to bring into play.
The result is an ever-escalating fist-fight that feels like flipping the panels on your favorite comic. It won’t be long before characters are chaining attacks into other attacks, throwing the scenery around, throwing each other around — sometimes into the paths of incoming attacks — and criss-crossing the battlefield with energy beams or freeze rays and generally doing what superheroes do best: escalating craziness with every punch until someone finally gets hit for six at the climax.
Not only is this the thematic core of Marvel Crisis Protocol, it’s also where a lot of the tactical decisions lie. It all comes down to assessing the situation and trying to choose which heroes and powers will work best together to counter the enemy. While this is always an interesting challenge, the sheer number of different options at your disposal can also be overwhelming, even for experienced players. Most characters have two to three attack options and a further three or four passive powers. When you’re fielding a team of five or so operatives, it quickly gets hard to handle. As does the sheer number of tokens and tracking many powers require.
The remainder of the strategy comes from the game’s objective system. This is a clever concept that removes a lot of the rock-paper-scissors faction match-up issues that plague a lot of other miniatures games. You build a team of 10 models, and support that team with a choice of crisis cards, which determine the scenario, and team tactics cards, one-shot special powers. Each player draws a crisis card at random from their roster, and those two become the scenario objectives — one detailing objectives to hold and one with items or civilians to get off the battlefield. They also mandate a points cap, and players can choose which of their 10 models to use up to that points value.
This is essentially a kind of sideboard system which allows you to strategically prepare sets of cards and figures that work well together and then finalize them when the exact parameters of the mission become clear. In turn, it offers tons of variety and means you can be much more flexible in how you approach your goals each and every game. So you’re reacting to a new tactical challenge each time by making informed decisions rather than just showing up with a list and hoping your picks will be up to doing whatever job turns out to be asked of them, as a lot of these kinds of games do.
While Marvel Crisis Protocol does give you plenty of tactical tools to work with, it’s also a dice-heavy game. The custom dice icons take some getting used to, but they’re fun to use, especially when a power gives you lots of re-rolls or exclamation results give you extra dice for explosively powerful attacks. At the same time, that does make the game very swingy and prone to fate. This seems well-suited to the theme of the game, with fights often taking wildly unexpected turns just as one side thinks they have it in the bag, but those looking for a more in-depth strategic challenge probably won’t be considering a game about comic-book characters having fist-fights in the first place.
Some 22 years after it first released, the cast of Max Payne recently reunited for a strange but brilliant Alan Wake 2 moment, absent one key member.
Remedy co-founder Sam Lake captured the moment in a photo posted to X/Twitter, referring to the cast as “family and friends.” The group included Jani Niipola (Alex Balder), Carol Kiriakos (Mona Sax), Lake’s mother and father (Nicole Horne and Alfred Woden respectively), Aki Järvilehto (BB), and of course Lake himself, who was the original face of Max Payne.
Absent from the gathering was James McCaffrey, the voice of Max Payne, who died in December. His final role was Alan Wake 2, where he played Alex Casey. Lake paid tribute to McCaffrey at the time, calling him a “lovely man and a dear friend.”
Spoilers for Alan Wake 2
The Max Payne cast was on hand for a 15-minute Finnish short film contained within Alan Wake 2 called Yötön Yö (Nightless Night). The optional sequence features a ballroom dance scene that includes the original cast of Alan Wake.
The original Max Payne was praised for its innovative implementation of bullet time mechanics, then a relatively new film device, and helped introduced Remedy to mainstream audiences. Actors like McCaffrey who featured in Max Payne would go on to appear in many more Remedy games, including Alan Wake 2.
As I settled back into the day-to-day work routine at IGN to start 2024, it randomly occurred to me that Halo 2 will turn 20 years old later this year – specifically, on November 9. That got me reminiscing about one of my favorite games ever – and probably my single favorite multiplayer game ever – a little bit early, so I thought I’d put those thoughts to virtual paper and share them with you because, quite frankly, there’s never a bad time to talk about the glory days of Halo 2 multiplayer.
I’m so grateful I got to be in the right time and place in my life, professionally and personally, to have soaked up that experience to the absolute fullest. I was 24 with no spouse, kid, or dog, thus allowing me to spend most of my free time playing Halo 2 multiplayer on Xbox Live. My life is very different now, in an equally great way, and I wouldn’t wish it any differently. And as also been pointed out to me, in 2004 there was no Call of Duty as direct competition for your online gaming time, not to mention the lack of social media, smartphones, and Netflix. Halo 2 was The Thing™, but it would’ve earned the lion’s share of my attention even if those other things had existed back then.
If you were too young for Halo 2, I promise you it was THAT GOOD. Not just the game, which was incredible (more on that in a bit), but also the Xbox Live ecosystem. You could send game invites with voice messages, which was neat. Even better, party chat wasn’t a thing yet, so people COMMUNICATED in-game. Proximity chat was used as a complement to team chat. Meaning you could broadcast to just your team or to anyone around you, which had both fun and strategic applications. And its then-revolutionary “virtual couch” online lobby and matchmaking system was light years ahead of anything we’d seen on console or even PC, making it easy and fun to get games together with your friends. Not only was there not a single dud [map] in the entire lot, they were all truly awesome.
Not only was there not a single dud [map] in the entire lot, they were all truly awesome.
But of course, the most amazing online infrastructure in the world (which Halo 2 had!) wouldn’t have mattered much if the game wasn’t incredible. And holy cow did Halo 2 deliver in the multiplayer department. It took everything great about Halo 1’s multiplayer and built on it. More vehicles, improved physics, dual-wielded weapons, the ability to board (read: carjack) enemy vehicles, and a collection of maps that I would put against any online multiplayer shooter in history. Bungie’s map designers were absolutely in the zone for Halo 2: Lockout, Midship, Ivory Tower, Ascension, Zanzibar, Colossus, Burial Mounds, Waterworks, Foundation, and the phenomenal remakes of two great Halo 1 maps: Beaver Creek and the evolution of Blood Gulch, known in Halo 2 as Coagulation. Not only was there not a single dud in the entire lot of them, they were all truly awesome. That Bungie allowed easy customization of the maps in the form of tweaking weapons, vehicles, etc. allowed every Halo 2 match to be whatever you wanted it to be.
Halo 2 in 2004 really was a perfect storm. In fact, if I could travel back in time to re-experience any gaming “eras” that are gone forever now, it would be the Halo 2 Era (i.e. the year between its launch and the Xbox 360 launch) and the Rock Band Era (2007-2009 or so – but that’s something to write about another day…). Yes, these games still exist and are still playable, but it isn’t and can never be the same. So happy early 20th anniversary, Halo 2, I don’t think there will ever be another multiplayer game like you.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
City of Heroes is making an official return as a fan server dedicated to keeping the superhero multiplayer game running has been granted an official license by publisher NCSOFT.
Revealed in a forum post, a representative of the fan server, titled Homecoming, announced their hard work paid off. City of Heroes was shut down more than a decade ago in November 2012, but fan servers kept players entertained and now its biggest has officially revived the massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
“We’d like to thank you all for your patience over the past few years, and we’re incredibly thrilled to announce that it’s paid off,” the post said. “NCSOFT has officially granted Homecoming a license to host City of Heroes.”
We’d like to thank you all for your patience over the past few years, and we’re incredibly thrilled to announce that it’s paid off.
Aware fans would have many questions about the change, the post made the most important points clear: players accounts and characters are safe, new content will continue to be developed, and it will remain free and run through donations. More details will arrive in the coming months.
“Realise your comic book dreams in this MMORPG that is home to an entire universe of super-powered heroes and villains,” reads the game’s synopsis. “Build your own unique hero from millions of possible character combinations and venture into Paragon City to discover all the danger, wonder and excitement that await you.”
In our 8/10 review from 2004, when the game debuted, IGN said: “City of Heroes is fun. It’s exciting, it’s colourful, it’s cute, it’s brutal, and it’s a great realization of comic books in MMO form. It seems like a great place to start for those that have always found MMOs intimidating.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Surgeon Simulator and Lost Skies developer Bossa Studios has become the latest affected by the sweeping lay-offs hitting the video game industry.
As revealed by GI.biz, the UK developer laid off almost one third of all staff as 19 employees lost their jobs, caused by what co-founder Henrique Olifiers called a “perfect storm of events”. The lay-offs came at the end of 2023, with 40 employees remaining at the studio.
This “perfect storm” was, according to Olifiers, caused by the number of high profile triple-A games launching after September that took attention from smaller studios, increasing operational costs, and delayed funding decisions across the industry.
“Resulting from this blue moon situation, we had to make the difficult decision to reshape the studio to reflect the position we find ourselves in at the end of this year, focusing all our efforts now on Lost Skies,” he said. “This means we find ourselves in the heartbreaking position of having to let roughly one third of the studio go — amongst them, some of our closest colleagues.”
Olifiers pleaded for other studios to hire the laid off members where possible, though the entire video game industry is currently struggling with job losses.
Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is releasing a ship bundle for its controversial space simulator that costs an eye-watering $48,000.
Revealed on its website, the Legatus 2953 pack will arrive in the first quarter of 2024 and cost $48,000 despite the game not having officially launched yet.
“Ahead of all others, this definitive armada is an equal match to the noble title of Legatus Navium,” the Legatus 2953 item page reads. “Comprised of over 175 vessels from every manufacturer of note, this perfect collection, including all ships released and concepted through 2953, empowers every fleet commander to forge a lasting legacy, leading humanity towards a brighter future.”
Adding even more to the price, the Legatus 2953 pack is only available to members of Star Citizen’s Chairman’s Club, which can only be entered after spending $1,000 on other items in game.
Star Citizen is considered one of the most controversial projects in all video games. Over the years it’s been called many things, including a scam by those who wonder whether it will ever properly launch.
What cannot be denied is the huge amount of money so far raised by Star Citizen, which CIG displays on its website. At the time of this article’s publication, Star Citizen had raised $658,161,596 from more than five million accounts.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
